Envy
by Shirekat
Summary: Albus is sulking at Teddy and Victoire's wedding because his best friends Rose and Scorpius are too busy snogging each other to pay any attention to him. But his sister Lily won't let him sulk forever.


A/N: Written for the Quidditch Fanfiction League Competition Finals Round 1. I'm Beater 2 for the Caerphilly Catapults.

Prompt: Pairing Diversity; Primary Character: Lily Luna Potter; Secondary Character: Albus Severus Potter

Optional Prompts: 8. (word count) 1,000*, 10. "embrace," and 11. "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon

*Again, the A/N and the horizontal lines throw off the word count.

* * *

Albus Severus Potter was in a foul mood. He really had no right to be, and he knew that. Yet there he was, sitting at an otherwise deserted table at Teddy and Victoire's wedding reception. He was completely surrounded by happiness, which only made him more miserable.

The newlyweds were laughing and dancing. Teddy would twirl his bride and give himself a huge wart on his chin or a nose like a pig snout while she was looking away. Every time she turned back around, Victoire would give a little squeal and then the surrounding guests—mostly friends of theirs from school—would break into loud laughter. Granny and Granddad were sitting at one of the other tables, chatting and sipping champagne and occasionally joining in the raucous laughter. Albus' siblings and cousins weaved in and out of the crowd, playing with some of the magical tricks Uncle George had brought with him. On the other side of the party tent, Albus could see his parents dancing with Aunt Hermione. Even Uncle Ron looked happy, and he was still waiting for the bones in his right foot to re-grow, which Albus had heard was a grueling, painful process.

And really, none of that would have bothered him at any other time. Albus loved his family, especially when they all got together and seemed to do nothing but laugh.

A fit of Rose's distinctive giggling reached his ears from behind him, reminding Albus all over again exactly why he was in a foul mood. His two best friends, Rose and Scorpius, had totally abandoned him in favor of snogging each other just outside the tent. In a fresh burst of resentment and self-pity, Albus crossed his arms and slumped lower in his chair.

It might have helped if he'd found a date to bring to the wedding. He could have at least had a bit of fun dancing, then, and maybe done some snogging of his own, if things went well. But he hadn't. He began to wish he had one of those families that invited the whole neighborhood, instead of one of those families that _was_ the whole neighborhood. Then he might have met a boy in his year who wasn't his cousin. He'd even dance with a girl, if he could find one his own age. He'd always had Rose to dance with before, and they'd had tons of fun being dateless together. It was only since last term that Scorpius had started to muck everything up.

"Albus?" a voice startled him out of his resentful reverie. He turned around to tell off whoever had come to bother him.

"Lily," he said, "Leave me alone."

Lily, who was not to be deterred so easily, asked, "Why are you sitting here all alone? Where's Rose?"

Albus glared, and gestured towards the silhouettes of his cousin and her boyfriend locked in an embrace.

"What are—oh."

Albus put as much sarcasm as he could into nodding his head.

Lily was silent for a moment—long enough that Albus had begun to think she'd gotten bored with his sulking and gone away. Then, out of nowhere, she said, "You're jealous."

"What?" he said, startled out of his silence, "I'm not jealous of Rose. Scorpius isn't even my type!"

Lily rolled her eyes knowingly. "Of course you're not jealous of Rose, silly," she said, "You're jealous of Scorpius, because he's hogging Rose all to himself, when usually, you two would be having fun and giggling together."

Albus decided such an accusation didn't deserve a response, and turned away from his little sister to go back to sulking.

Suddenly, he found himself being shoved off his chair.

"Hey!" he shouted. He looked back at the owner of the offending arms to find she was holding those arms out to him at that moment, a big grin on her face.

"Dance with me!" she said.

"No."

"If you don't I'll tell Dad how his signed Aidan Lynch Snitch escaped."

"All right! Fine!" Albus struggled to his feet, glaring at his sister anew.

Lily beamed an angelic smile up at him, as she grabbed his hand and led him to a relatively clear part of the dance floor.

She began to twist just a little bit, and move her feet back and forth. Albus did the same, his eyes wandering around the tent and eventually back to where he could just see Rose and Scorpius. It was at that moment that a very determined thirteen year old girl stomped on his foot.

"Don't you dare look back!" she said, "Just keep your eyes on me."

Lily moved her feet slowly, at half the beat of the music, patiently waiting for Albus to catch up.

"You're holding back," he said, allowing a smile to creep onto his face.

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up and dance with me!" she said, grabbing his hands.

Anchored as he was to his sister, Albus began to lose track of the rest of the party. He suddenly felt like a child again, rather than a brooding teenager. He followed Lily's lead and simply had fun for the first time in a long time.

Lily's smile grew wider and wider, until at last she decided that he was ready and drew him into the larger circle of their friends and family, and he laughed as hard as anyone when Teddy turned to him with a duck's bill and quacked at him as Victoire pirouetted past.

* * *

"I feel like I missed so much!" Rose said to him later, when she had said goodbye to Scorpius. "Promise me you'll never let me be so anti-social again."

Had Albus still been in a bad mood, he might have snapped at her that maybe she should pay less attention to her boyfriend and more attention to the rest of the world if she felt like she missed so much. But Albus Severus Potter was in a good mood. So instead, he laughed and said, "Promise."


End file.
